About the performer

Jill Grove

Renowned for her distinctive dramatic mezzo-soprano and passionate artistry, American singer JILL GROVE has won critical raves throughout America and Europe for her distinguished portrayals of the heroines of German and Italian opera. She is equally at home with the world’s leading orchestras and in recital, and she was a 2003 ARIA Award winner.

In the summer of 2009, Grove traveled to Italy, reprising her performance of Zita in Woody Allen’s production of Gianni Schicchi for the Spoleto Festival. Her concert appearances include Bach’s Magnificat, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Walpurgisnacht at the Cincinnati May Festival; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Minnesota Orchestra; and an all-Mahler recital with the Fort Worth Symphony. She sang critically acclaimed performances as the Amme in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten at Lyric Opera of Chicago, as part of an all-star cast including Deborah Voigt and Christine Brewer. In 2008, Jill Grove returned to the Met in the role of Auntie in a new production by John Doyle of Britten’s Peter Grimes, under the baton of Donald Runnicles. She then reprised the role of Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold with San Francisco Opera, in a production by Francesca Zambello.

As a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Grove has performed numerous roles, including Anne Kronenberg in the world premiere of Harvey Milk. She collaborates regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. She has performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Hollywood Bowl, the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel, the National Symphony under Leonard Slatkin, the Atlanta Symphony under Roberto Abbado, the Houston Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach, and the Detroit Symphony under Neemi Järvi. She performed the Verdi Requiem with the Toronto Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis. She has sung Mahler’s Third Symphony at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and with the Houston Symphony under Eschenbach, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Houston Symphony under Hans Graf and with the St. Louis Symphony under Runnicles. Additional appearances include Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with the National Symphony Orchestra and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Frau Mary with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas. At the Cincinnati May Festival, she sang the Mozart Requiem and Messiah under James Conlon as well as presenting a solo recital. She also sang Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony at the Ravinia Festival with Eschenbach.

Grove’s recordings include Ulrica on a Chandos recording of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Auntie in Peter Grimes on the LSO Live label under Sir Colin Davis, and the Omniscient Mussel in Strauss’ Die Ägyptische Helena with the American Symphony Orchestra on Teldec. She is the recipient of a 2001 Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant, a 1999 George London Foundation Career Grant, a 1997 Sullivan Foundation Career Grant, a 1996 Richard Tucker Foundation Study Grant, and a 1995 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, and a winner of the 1996 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She was a member of the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera and the Houston Grand Opera Studio. She attended the Music Academy of the West, the New England Conservatory, and Stephen F. Austin State University, receiving a Distinguished Alumna Award from the latter university in 2006. She currently resides in San Francisco and studies with Patricia McCaffrey.